Foaming Agents in Baking: Function, Types, and Innovations

​Foaming agents are indispensable in baking, as they introduce gases into batters and doughs, resulting in the light and airy textures characteristic of cakes, muffins, and soufflés. These agents function by generating and stabilizing bubbles within the mixture, ensuring a uniform rise and desirable crumb structure in the finished products.​

Natural Foaming Agents: Eggs
Eggs, particularly egg whites, are traditional and highly effective natural foaming agents. The proteins in egg whites, when whipped, unfold and form a network that traps air bubbles, creating a stable foam. This process significantly contributes to the volume and fluffiness of baked goods. To enhance the stability of egg white foams, acidic stabilizers like cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate) are often added. Cream of tartar lowers the pH of the egg whites, strengthening the protein matrix and preventing the foam from collapsing during baking. ​

Chemical Leavening Agents: Baking Soda and Baking Powder

Chemical leavening agents, such as baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and baking powder, function by releasing carbon dioxide gas into the batter or dough. Baking soda requires the presence of acidic components (like buttermilk or yogurt) to activate the release of gas. In contrast, baking powder contains both an acid and a base, allowing it to produce carbon dioxide upon hydration and heat exposure, independent of additional acidic ingredients. This gas expansion causes the mixture to rise, resulting in a light texture. ​

Role of Stabilizers in Foam Stability
Stabilizers play a crucial role in maintaining foam integrity. Ingredients like sugar and cream of tartar are commonly used to enhance foam stability. Sugar interacts with proteins to strengthen the foam structure, while cream of tartar acidifies the mixture, further stabilizing the proteins and preventing the foam from deflating before or during baking. ​

Emerging Trends: Natural and Innovative Foaming Agents
The baking industry is witnessing a shift towards natural and plant-based foaming agents, driven by consumer demand for clean-label products. Alternatives such as aquafaba (chickpea brine), soy protein, and pea protein are gaining popularity for their foaming properties, offering viable substitutes for traditional agents. Additionally, recent research explores the use of novel biopolymers and nanoemulsions as advanced foaming agents, aiming to improve functionality and sustainability in food production. ​

In summary, foaming agents, whether natural like egg whites or chemical like baking powder, are essential for achieving the desired textures in baked goods. The incorporation of stabilizers ensures the longevity and stability of these foams, while ongoing innovations continue to enhance baking practices, aligning with evolving consumer preferences.
Foaming Agents in Baking: Function, Types, and Innovations

Xanthan Gum: A Multifunctional Additive in Modern Industries

Xanthan gum, a microbial polysaccharide derived from the fermentation of Xanthomonas campestris, has become a cornerstone ingredient across the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Its exceptional ability to alter viscosity, stabilize emulsions, and control texture without affecting flavor has made it indispensable.

Applications in the Food Industry

One of xanthan gum’s primary roles is as a thickening agent. It is widely used in sauces, dressings, soups, and dairy products to enhance viscosity and create a desirable mouthfeel. For example, in low-calorie and reduced-fat products, xanthan gum compensates for the absence of fat, ensuring a creamy texture. It is also a critical component in gluten-free baking, where it replicates the elasticity and structure typically provided by gluten, improving the texture and cohesion of baked goods.

Stabilization and Emulsification Properties

As a stabilizer, xanthan gum prevents the separation of ingredients, ensuring long shelf life and consistency. This property is invaluable in salad dressings, where oil and vinegar remain uniformly mixed, and in frozen desserts like ice cream, where it reduces ice crystal formation. In cosmetics, it provides smooth, non-greasy textures in products like creams and lotions.

Additionally, xanthan gum functions as an emulsifier, enabling the seamless blending of immiscible substances, such as oil and water. This versatility is vital in manufacturing emulsified products like mayonnaise and plant-based beverages.

Pharmaceutical and Industrial Uses

In the pharmaceutical sector, xanthan gum enhances the effectiveness of medications by acting as a controlled-release agent. Its gel-forming properties regulate the release of active ingredients in oral and topical formulations, improving drug delivery efficiency. Furthermore, its biocompatibility and non-toxic nature have made it a preferred choice for personal care products like toothpaste.

Sustainability and Future Prospects

Derived from renewable microbial sources, xanthan gum aligns with growing sustainability trends. Advances in biotechnology continue to improve its production efficiency, reducing costs and environmental impact.

In conclusion, xanthan gum's multifunctional properties have revolutionized product development across multiple industries, underscoring its importance in meeting modern consumer demands for quality and innovation.
Xanthan Gum: A Multifunctional Additive in Modern Industries

How Stabilizers Enhance Ice Cream Flavor and Texture

Stabilizers play a critical role in the development and enhancement of ice cream flavor by influencing several key factors, making them indispensable for achieving the desired sensory qualities in the final product.

Flavor Release: Stabilizers help distribute flavor compounds uniformly throughout the ice cream matrix. As the ice cream melts, they ensure a consistent release of these flavors. Without stabilizers, flavor distribution could be uneven, leading to an inconsistent taste experience. A well-stabilized ice cream gradually releases its flavor compounds, allowing for a prolonged and balanced flavor profile throughout consumption. This slow and controlled release ensures that each spoonful provides a satisfying burst of flavor, maintaining the overall enjoyment of the ice cream.

Texture and Mouthfeel: Stabilizers contribute significantly to the smooth and creamy texture of ice cream, which directly affects how flavors are perceived. A smooth, creamy mouthfeel enhances the overall flavor experience, as the texture itself contributes to a sense of indulgence. Creaminess can amplify the perception of sweetness, intensifying the enjoyment of flavors like vanilla, chocolate, or fruit varieties. By preventing large ice crystals from forming, stabilizers ensure that the texture remains pleasant, which in turn elevates the flavor perception, making the ice cream taste richer and more satisfying.

Preventing Ice Crystal Growth: One of the primary functions of stabilizers is to prevent the growth of ice crystals. Large ice crystals can lead to a grainy texture, which can negatively impact both the mouthfeel and the flavor experience. Ice crystals that are too large create a coarse texture, making the flavors seem dull or diluted. Smaller, more uniform ice crystals ensure a smooth and velvety texture, allowing the flavors to be experienced in their full intensity.

Slowing Melting: Stabilizers help slow the melting process, preventing the ice cream from becoming watery too quickly. This is crucial because rapid melting can dilute the flavors, making them less enjoyable. By slowing the melt rate, stabilizers preserve the ice cream’s texture and flavor, ensuring a more consistent taste experience from start to finish.

Enhancing Creaminess: Creaminess is one of the most desirable qualities in ice cream, and stabilizers play a key role in enhancing this characteristic. A creamier texture not only improves mouthfeel but also accentuates the perception of sweetness and other flavors. The enhanced creaminess contributes to the overall indulgence of the ice cream, making it a more luxurious treat.

In summary, stabilizers are essential in creating a high-quality ice cream that delivers consistent texture and flavor. By influencing factors such as flavor release, texture, ice crystal growth, and melting behavior, they help ensure that each bite is a delightful and flavorful experience.
How Stabilizers Enhance Ice Cream Flavor and Texture

Understanding the Role of Texturizers in Food Products

Texturizers are food ingredients used to modify and enhance the texture and mouthfeel of various food products. These additives play a crucial role in the food industry by improving the sensory experience of foods and beverages, making them more appealing and enjoyable to consumers.

Definition and Purpose: Texturizers are approved direct additives incorporated into foods to provide structure, viscosity, stability, and other qualities, such as maintaining color and extending shelf life. Extracted primarily from natural substances such as plants, seaweed, or animal products, texturizers enhance the overall eating experience by improving the consistency and feel of food in the mouth. For instance, they can turn a watery soup into a creamy delight or help keep ice cream smooth and free of ice crystals.

Types and Functions: Texturizers come in various types, each serving specific functions in food production:

• Thickeners: These ingredients create stiffness, add body, and stabilize emulsions in food products. Thickeners range from flavorless powders like cornstarch to complex gums like xanthan gum and guar gum. For example, cornstarch is widely used to thicken soups, sauces, and gravies, giving them a rich, smooth consistency. Guar gum, on the other hand, is often used in gluten-free baking to replicate the texture that gluten provides.

• Stabilizers: Stabilizers increase the stability and thickness of food, helping ingredients to remain uniformly dispersed in an emulsion. Lecithin, a common stabilizer found in many processed foods, prevents the separation of oil and water in products like salad dressings. Agar-agar, derived from seaweed, is another popular stabilizer used in vegan-friendly products, offering a gelatin-like texture.

• Gelling Agents: Gelling agents form gels, providing structure to jellies, jams, desserts, and yogurts. Pectin, a natural carbohydrate found in fruits, is a well-known gelling agent used in the production of jams and jellies. Gelatin, derived from animal collagen, is another gelling agent that gives a firm texture to products like marshmallows and gummy candies.

Labeling and Usage: Food labels clearly indicate the function of the additive, such as “pectin (gelling agent),” ensuring transparency for consumers. Thickeners, stabilizers, and gelling agents are largely derived from polysaccharides (complex carbohydrates) or proteins, emphasizing their natural origin. These ingredients are carefully regulated to ensure they meet safety standards and are used within acceptable limits.

In summary, texturizers enhance both the physical properties and overall enjoyment of our favorite foods, playing a pivotal role in creating the desired consistency, texture, and stability that define many processed foods and beverages.
Understanding the Role of Texturizers in Food Products

Food bulking agent

Food bulking agents often referred to as carriers or fillers, are carbohydrates, non-nutritive additives used in food and beverage that increase the bulk (volume or weight) of a food without affecting its taste and keeping its utility and functionality intact.

They are often used in conjunction with high-intensity sweeteners (HISs) which do not bulk – HISs just provide intense sweetness – and therefore the bulking agents are required to add volume.

Guar gum, psyllium husk and starch are one of the most common forms of bulking agents.

Carnuba Wax, Glycerin, Beta, Glucan, Mannitol, Maltitlol, Polydextrose, Methylcellulose and Pectin are other examples of food bulking agents.

Widely used in low calorie foods, meal replacements, pastries, cereals and most processed foods bulking agents can be used as weight loss aid for their ability of delivering fullness and decreased appetite.

Ingredients added only to contribute bulk - over and above what is contributed by the regular formula of ingredients - should be classified 'non-functional'. Being basically a filler or extender, it produces no effect within the food matrix.

However, the bulking agent contribute to the control of certain factors it should be classified as a 'functional' bulking agent.

Bulking agents can be classified into two broad groups: nutritive and non-nutritive. Maltodextrins (nutritive group) are bland, nutritive saccharide polymers consisting of glucose units. Maltodextrins can be used to increase soluble solids, inhibit sugar crystallization, and control freezing point. They have also been used as fat mimics in frozen desserts.

Example of non-nutritive bulking agent: polydextrose and Fibersol-2®. Polydextrose, is a low-molecular-weight randomly bonded polysaccharide of glucose with energy utilisation of 1 kcal/g has attained significant use as a low-calorie bulking agent to replace sugar in reduced calorie foods. The low-calorie content of polydextrose is a result of its indigestibility in the small intestine and incomplete fermentation in the large intestine.

A commercial example of a resistant maltodextrin, Fibersol-2® can be used as a bulking agent for use with high-intensity sweeteners. It forms clear aqueous solutions with a clean taste and a relative sweetness of 0.1 of sucrose.
Food bulking agent

Gelling agents

Gelling agents are food additives used to provide body, texture, and structure to chewy, jelly-type candies. A food gel can be considered as a high moisture three-dimensional polymeric network that resists flow under pressure and more or less retains their distinct structural shape.

Gelling agents are the gel-forming agents when dissolved in a liquid phase as a colloidal mixture forms a weakly cohesive internal structure. They are organic hydrocolloids or hydrophilic inorganic substances. Hydrocolloids are a heterogeneous group of long chain polymers (polysaccharides and proteins) characterized by their property of forming viscous dispersions and/or gels when dispersed in water.

Gellification is the phenomenon involving the association or crosslinking of the polymer chains to form a three-dimensional network that traps or immobilizes water within it to form a rigid structure.

In semisolid dosage form, gelling agents are used at a concentration of 0.5%–10%. Examples includes tragacanth, pectin, starch, carbomer, sodium alginate, gelatin, cellulose derivatives, polyvinyl alcohol clays, etc. Gelatin was the first gelling agent to be discovered but it soon paved the way for agar, which has far superior material qualities.

Gelling agents also function as stabilizers and thickeners to provide thickening without stiffness. Certain gelling agents can reverse between liquid and gel state depending on the temperature, a property that adds much to their desirability. A good solidifier tends to be colorless, odorless and a good retainer of moisture.
Gelling agents

Glazing agents

Food glazing agents are food additives, also known as polishing agents, which when applied over food items throughout the manufacturing process to protect the external surface of the foodstuff, improving the shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

In addition, food glazing agent acts as a sealant to prevent moisture loss, improve structure, and act as a lubricant, increasing their consumer appeal.

The most important substances used as glazing agents are natural or synthetic waxes, such as beeswax, candelilla wax, carnauba wax, hydrogenated poly-1-decene, microcrystalline wax, montan acid esters, oxidized polyethylene wax, and shellac. All these additives are used for surface treatments of some entire fresh fruits.

Beeswax, candelilla wax, carnauba wax, and shellac are also used in chewing gum; chocolate products; coffee; confections; potato-, cereal-, flour-, or starch-based snacks; fine bakery wares coated with chocolate; and processed nuts.

One of glazing agent beeswax is an authorized food additive in the European Union, permitted used on confectionery (excluding chocolate), small products of fine bakery wares coated with chocolate, snacks, nuts and coffee beans and for the surface treatment only of certain fruits (fresh citrus fruits, melons, apples, pears, peaches and pineapples).

While carnauba wax use as food-grade polish and gelling agents in many food products & pharmaceutical pills. It also serves as a thickener in oils and solvent.

The treatment using beeswax, carnauba wax, shellac and microcrystalline wax protects the fruits against dehydration and oxidation and has a growth inhibiting effect against moulds and certain micro-organisms. There is a technological need in particular for fruits that are mainly imported from countries with a tropical climate.
Glazing agents

Propellants

Propellants is a food additive that helps propel food from a container. Propellants is a ‘miscellaneous additive’ that is used or intended to be used primarily; but does not include use as a processing aid or any enzyme.

For example, nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is a permitted packaging gas, but is not used for general food-packaging applications. It is used as a propellant in aerosol creams.

A propellant gas is necessary to force the release liquid through the nozzle of the dispenser.

Butane and iso-butane can be used as propellants in vegetable oil pan sprays and water-based emulsion sprays. Propane can be used as a propellant in vegetable oil pan sprays and water-based emulsion sprays.

To produce a spray, the propellant must have sufficient dispersive energy to overcome the surface tension of the liquid mixture, plus the cohesive and adhesive forces.

The liquefied gases used as propellants are very effective in dispersing the active ingredients in to a fine mist or foam; depending on the form it is required. These are relatively inert and non-toxic and have the advantage that the pressure within the can remains constant.
Propellants

Food additive: Carrageenan

Carrageenan is a generic term that is used to describe a diverse group of sulphated polysaccharide compounds that are found in the cell wall matrix of red seaweeds. Carrageenan is a hydrocolloid consisting mainly of the ammonium, calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium sulfate esters of galactose and 3,6-anhydrogalactose polysaccharides.

Carrageenan serves as a substitute for fat, and to thicken nonfat or low-fat foods or dairy replacements. It recreates a fatty “mouthfeel” in products such as low-fat or nonfat dairy (e.g., low-fat cottage cheese, low-fat sour cream) and vegetable-based dairy substitutes (e.g., soy milk, coconut milk).

Due to its textural functionality carrageenan is used widely in food processing primarily to bind water and promote gel formation, to thicken and stabilize structure for food products by binding protein, and to improve palatability.

It is used in a variety of foods, including dairy products, water-dessert gels and confectionery, cooked processed meat products and fish products, beverages, condiments, infant formula, and pet food. It is sometimes injected as a brine in pre-cooked poultry to improve tenderness and maintain juiciness.

Carrageenan is obtained by extraction from seaweed into water or aqueous dilute alkali. Carrageenan may be recovered by alcohol precipitation, by drum drying, or by precipitation in aqueous potassium chloride and subsequent freezing.

Chemically, carrageenan is a high molecular weight sulfated poly-galactan derived from a number of species of red seaweeds of the class Rhodophyceae. It is a polymer of the sugar, galactose, composed of repeating galactose units that may have sulfate groups attached.
Food additive: Carrageenan

Guar gum as food additive

Guar gum is the ground endosperm derived from the seeds of the drought tolerant plant Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, a member of Leguminosae family.

Commercial food-grade guar gum is reported to contain usually about 80% guaran, 5–6% crude protein, 8–15% moisture, 2.5% crude fiber, 0.5–0.8% ash, and small amounts of lipids composed mainly of free and esterified plant fatty acids.

Guar gum is insoluble in organic solvents. The gum is soluble in cold water without heating to form a highly viscous so1ution. Guar gum solutions have buffering capacity and are very stable in the pH 4.0-10.5 range.

Guar gum is practically undigested, not absorbed intact, but significantly fermented by enteric bacteria in humans.

It is largely used in the form of guar gum powder as an additive in food, pharmaceuticals, paper, textile, explosive, oil well drilling and cosmetics industry. Industrial applications of guar gum are possible because of its ability to form hydrogen bonding with water molecule. Thus, it is chiefly used as thickener and stabilizer.

For example: Guar gum is added to various dairy products, such as ice cream (for preventing ice crystal growth and for textural improvement), milk shakes (for preventing serum separation and adding viscosity and shear resistance) and yogurt (for improved texture and mouthfeel and for preventing syneresis).

It is also beneficial in the control of many health problems like diabetes, bowel movements, heart disease and colon cancer.

Guar is used as: thicker, stabilizer, emulsifier, formulation aid, viscosity builder, firming agent.
Guar gum as food additive

Functions of meat binders

Food binders are food additives that are added to the food products in order to improves the texture by binding or thickening or the ingredients together.

Based on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition, binders are used to thicken or to improve texture, consistency and sensory scores of meats. Stabilizers are food additives that contribute an optimal finished meat system and provide value-added qualities to meat system applications.

During manufacturing of sausages, binders are used to improve the bind of meat and fat, improving fat and moisture retention. Binders are often used when hand mixing sausage to improve bind characteristics and to help mitigate off-flavors from some wild game.

It also can improve finished product stability, provide consistent texture and viscosity, and make food products firmer.

From pre-historic times, food binders have been used successfully in traditional food system to increase viscosity, prevent water separation and improve body texture and flavor properties sought after in modern food stabilizers.

Currently, there are many products available in the supermarket, which are made by binding comminuted meat products along with spices, seasonings, and stabilizer in to one cohesive product.

Various binders are available to meat processors. Some binders are proteins, such as soy protein isolate, pea protein, wheat protein, milk casein ate, gelatin, and egg protein.

Proteins derived from a variety of plant and animal resources have potential value as binders in restructured meat products. Some binders are derived from enzymes, such as transglutaminase and beef fibrin.

Milk proteins are also used in meat products throughout the world. Nonfat dry milk, sodium caseinate, and whey protein concentrates are used as emulsifiers and water binders. Sodium caseinates are used for ham production in Mexico, helping to retain moisture.

The binding substance carrageenan can provide significant volume increase as it is highly water absorbent. Its positive role is mainly in the manufacture of coarse products such as burgers or coarse skinless sausage products and in cooked hams.
Functions of meat binders

Functional properties of sugar

Sucrose, glucose and fructose are the most common sweeteners in nature. Glucose is always less sweet than sucrose, whereas the sweetness of fructose is highly dependent on temperature.

Sugar, which refers usually to sucrose, is natural and nontoxic, sweet testing, water soluble crystalline carbohydrates, and every 1 gram of sugar provide body 4K.calories. The main source for sugar is the beet sugar or cane sugar; also there are several sources such as honey, corn syrup, fruits, and vegetables….etc. Sucrose provides a sweetness flavour profile which is consistently liked by consumers at an economical cost.

The relatively high solubility of sucrose is an important parameter for its bulking effect in many foods and beverages. The dissolved sugar increases the viscosity of water-based solutions or mixtures, resulting in enhanced mouthfeel. Dissolved sugar lowers the freezing point of ice cream by preventing the water molecules from combining to form ice crystals, which slows down the freezing process.

By absorbing free water and increasing osmotic pressure, sugar reduces water activity in a food system (e.g. jam), resulting in reduced microbial and mold growth as well as extending the storage life of food. Also sugar can preserve fruits, either in syrup with fruit such as apples, pears.

Crystallization of sugars is desirable in products such as fondant, dragees, fudge etc., but not in many other products like jam and jellies. Crystallization occurs when the solubility limit of the sugar, typically sucrose or glucose, has been exceeded and a supersaturated environment has been created.

Sugar plays an important and single role in contributing to the flavor of food by interacting with other components to enhance or lessen certain flavors. By adding a small amount of sugar to cooked vegetables and meat enhance the food’s natural flavors, without making them taste sweet.

Texture is an expression of the sensation in the mouth. Sugar affects this by providing volume and consistency in many products such as bread, jam and beverages.In bread, sugar affects the volume of dough by speeding up the fermentation process. This gives the bread a more porous structure and softer crumb.
Functional properties of sugar

Citric acid as antioxidants

While various acids can function to inactivate prooxidant metals in fats, citric acid has been used to fill most needs. It is very effective in retarding the oxidative deterioration of lipids in foods and is commonly added to vegetables oils after deodorization.

Citric acid

Citric acid was studied in the 1940s an 1950s as a food antioxidant useful in butterfat, vegetable oils, shortenings, lard, fats and the phospholipid portion of milk.

Citric acid functions as a synergist with other antioxidants in a various vegetables oils. Some linoleate-containing oils such as soybean oils, crambe, mustard oil and rape oil are effectively stabilized by the addition of 0. 01% of citric acid.

In palm oil, TBHQ and citric acid treatment significantly reduced oxidation and improve bleachability. Other foods that commonly use citric acid as an additive include ice cream and sorbets, caramel, soda, cider, beer and wine, cheese, many canned and jarred foods, baked goods and cake mixes, frozen fish, many processed sweets and precut and packages fruits and vegetables.
Citric acid as antioxidants

What are the functions of emulsifier in soft drinks?

The function of an emulsifier is to enable, and maintain, a uniform dispersion of oil droplets within the aqueous phase.

The small size of the droplets (1-2 um) means that the system tends to instability since the potential energy increases with total interfacial energy, which is the driving force of coalescence.

Emulsifiers are used to minimize the total interfacial energy and act by adsorbing at the oil-water interface in an oriented manner.

Concentrated emulsions are used to impart both cloud (neutral emulsion) and flavor (flavored emulsion) characteristics to the drink and are usually formulated to be used at a rate of about 0.1%.

The beverage emulsions diluted several hundred to several thousand times to provide flavor, color and a cloudy appearance for the beverage. A beverage emulsion must be stable in both the concentrate and diluted forms.

Brominated Vegetable Oil is an example of emulsifier and clouding agent used in soft drinks. It keeps flavor in oils in suspension and gives a cloudy appearance to citrus-flavored soft drinks.
What are the functions of emulsifier in soft drinks?

The functions of flavor enhancer

Flavorings ether imparts a particular flavor to food or modifies flavors already present. Flavor enhancers, on the other hand, intensify flavors already present especially when the desirable flavors are relatively weak.

Flavor enhancers intensify mostly attributes of mouth feel such as dryness and astringency. Flavor enhancers are chemical compounds or materials that are used in very minutes quantities. At the levels of parts per thousand, in which they are usually used they do not add any flavor of their own to the food.

First used in fish and meat dishes they a now intensify desired flavors and mask unwanted ones in beverages, processed fruit and vegetables and bakes goods like breads and cakes.

Monosodium glutamate is one of the best known and is widely used flavor enhancers. Disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate are also common.

Most people are familiar with the use of table salt to enhance the flavor of a wide variety of foods. Salt can be an effective enhancer even at levels far below the threshold for salty taste and is widely used in processed foods such as canned vegetables and soups.
The functions of flavor enhancer

Food uses of ascorbic acid

Ascorbic acid is a widely used food additive with many functional roles, many of which are based upon its oxidation –reduction properties.

It is the naturally occurring L-ascorbic acid. It is freely soluble in water and sparingly soluble in ethanol.

Its functional roles include its uses as a nutritional food additive, antioxidant, browning inhibitor, reducing agent, flavor stabilizer, modifier and enhancer, color stabilizer, dough modifier and many other capacities.

Ascorbic acid is used as an antimicrobial and antioxidant in foods. It is preferentially oxidized in place of other substrates and complements very well as a synergist to other antioxidants, such as BHA and BHT in polyphase food systems.

Ascorbic and its sodium and calcium salts are used as nutritive additives. Whenever there is a need to preserve the vitamin content in fortified foods, the D isomer of ascorbic acid, isoascorbate or eyrthrobate, is incorporated with ascorbic acid.

Ascorbic acid is very widely used in bread making, where it is present as a ‘flour improver’. In practice, this means that the addition of ascorbic acid improves the bread texture and the size of the resulting loaf, the dough has greater elasticity, increased gas retention, and improved water absorption.
Food uses of ascorbic acid

Nutritional food additives

Nutrients functions are to improve or maintain the nutritional quality of foods. Many food additives, including vitamins and minerals, serve nutritional functions. Other nutritional additives include amino acids, fatty acids as well as other pure chemical compounds.

Vitamins and minerals added to many common foods such as milk, flour, cereal, and margarine to make up for elements likely to be lacking in a personal diet, replace those lost in processing or improve shelf life.

Most salt contains iodine to prevent goiter a condition resulting for iodine deficiency. It was one of the earliest used of nutritional additives to correct dietary deficiencies. In 1833, the French chemist Boussingault recommended the addition of iodine to table salt to prevent goiter.

Nutritional additives can be used to restore nutrients to levels found in the food before storage, packaging, handling and processing.

Other example of nutritional additives is fluoride may be added to drinking water to supply the mineral fluorine, required for normal tooth development in children.

Margarine, for example, is used as substitute for butter for economic reasons, Vitamin A and D thus need to be added to margarine to raise it nutritional value equal to that of the butter.
Nutritional food additives

The necessity of food additives

People have relied in food additives for thousands of years. Salt, for example, has been used to preserve meat since ancient times.

The necessity of food additive has been exponentially increased with the accelerated reliance on stored and packaged foods need to provide a constant supply of varied and plentiful food.

Processed foods could not exist without additives. Additives keep foods from going bad on the shelf. They ensure that certain foods remain safe to eat despite the threat food dangerous microorganisms.

There is a time lag between the preparation and final consumption of these foods necessitating their preservation on the original fresh state.

This becomes possible with they use of food additives such as preservatives which protect the food from microbial decay, anti-oxidants, anti-caking agents, emulsifying and stabilizing agents, flavoring agents, sequestering agents and buffering agents, etc.

Food additives make food taste the way people expect to taste. According to the FDA additives are used in food for five major reasons:
*To maintain product consistency
*To improve or maintain nutritional value
*To maintain palatability or wholesomeness
*To provide leavening
*To enhance flavor or impart desired colors

Wastage of food is national loss and should be avoided at all costs. The addition of permitted substance, i.e food additives can prevent or greatly impede the process of deterioration.
The necessity of food additives

Spices and their constituents

Many spices contain substances known to inhibit microorganism. Spice ingredients with antimicrobial action include aldehydes, organic acids, phenols and essential oils.

The use of spices has been expanded to include new roles:
*Antioxidant
*Antimicrobial
*Color
*Enzymatic activity
*Physiological effects
*Health benefits
*Aromacology
*Therapeutic agents

Spices, in addition to their own flavors, were employed for their preserving effect on meat products. Spices certainly helped to cover up or mask the objectionable flavor of spoilage that must have been present.
Spices and their constituents 

Sugar as food additive

There are thousands of food additives approved for use in foods. Sugar, high fructose corn sweeteners, salt, citric acid, pepper, vegetable colors, mustard, yeast and baking soda account for the vast majority - some 98% of total amount of food additive consumed.

Sugar is an important source of metabolite energy in foods and its formation in plants is an essential factor in the life process. Sugar typically made from sugar beet or sugar cane is not harmful unless large amounts are consumed over time.

Refined sugar means the white crystallized sugar obtained by refining of plantation white sugar. It shall b be free from dirt, filth, iron filings, and added coloring matter.

It has many uses as a food additive other than just sweetening. It acts as a tenderizer by absorbing water and inhibiting flour gluten development, as well as slowing down starch gelling.

It mixes air into shortening in the creaming process and caramelizes under heat, to provide cooked and baked foods with pleasing color and aroma.

Within a few years, the food industry began replacing some of the sugar it used with the new product, HFCS.

Though scientists can alter the fructose content of HFCS to vary its sweetness, the most common versions of this food additive in manufacturing taste is about as sweet as refined sugar.
Sugar as food additive